Graphical User Interface for Travel Planning System

ABSTRACT

A graphical user interface for a travel planning system is described. The graphical user interface is implemented as a web page and includes a tabular region of the graphical user interface that displays summarized travel options and comprises a plurality of cells that act as controls. The interface also includes a second region that displays selected travel options resulting from filtering a set of travel options in accordance with a control actuated in the tabular region.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates generally to computerized travel planningsystems.

Travel planning systems are used to produce itineraries and prices byselecting suitable travel units from databases concerning geographicscheduling and pricing information. In particular, travel planningsystems that operate over the Internet are known. Some computer travelplanning systems, such as Internet sites, generally produce a set ofplanning options, or itineraries for the traveller to consider. Theseoptions are often in the form of a single list of the possibleitineraries from which the traveller may select. Such a display approachmakes it difficult to clearly compare, discriminate, focus, andassimilate criteria and information that are likely to be important tothe traveller.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the invention, a graphical user interface fora travel planning system includes a tabular region of the graphical userinterface that displays summarized travel options and comprises aplurality of cells that act as controls and a second region thatdisplays selected travel options resulting from filtering a set oftravel options in accordance with a control actuated in the tabularregion.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a method for displayingtravel options includes compartmentalizing travel options into binsaccording to a set of criteria. The invention has compartmentalizingtravel options into ‘bins’, according to a set of criteria throughdisplaying the resulting bins in a table.

One or more of the following advantages may be provided by one or moreaspect of the present invention.

With a summary table as part of a user interface to the travel planningsystem, travellers can select individual bins inorder to focus on asubset of travel options that they are interested in. Selecting anindividual cell displays a secondary level of information about thetravel options that are represented in that cell. In this secondarylevel of information about individual travel options, each travel optionhas a mechanism for selecting and displaying the details of thatspecific travel option. The summary table can appears in the top frameof a web browser.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a client server travel planning systemparticularly operable over the Internet.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a query screen for a graphical user interfaceimplemented as a web page from a web browser.

FIGS. 3-5 are diagrams of web pages depicting results of executing aquery for a round trip based on information entered through the queryscreen of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrams of web pages depicting details of traveloptions provided in the web pages of FIGS. 3-5.

DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a travel planning system 10 is shown. The travelplanning system 10 can be used with various forms of travel such asairline, bus and railroad and is particularly adapted for air travel.Travel system 10 can includes a server computer 12 having a computermemory or storage media 14 storing a server process 15. The serverprocess 15 can include a scheduler process 16 and a faring process 18.An example of a scheduler process 16 is described in copending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/109,622, entitled “Scheduler System forTravel Planning Systems”, filed on Jul. 2, 1998 by Carl G. DeMarcken etal. and assigned to the assignee of the present invention andincorporated herein by reference. Also an example of a faring process 18is described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/109,873,entitled “Graphical User Interface for Travel Planning System”, filed onJul. 2, 1998 by Carl G. DeMarcken et al and also assigned to theassignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.Other travel planning systems such as those on the Internet can also beused.

The scheduler process 16 provides itineraries to a faring process 18.The faring process provides a set of pricing solutions by finding validfares corresponding to the itineraries produced by the scheduler process16. The faring process 18 also validates the fares for inclusion in aset of pricing solutions. The information to have the server produce theset of pricing solutions is obtain from a user entering data in agraphical user interface as will be described below. In addition, theset of pricing solutions are also displayed to the user through thegraphical user interface.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a web page 50 that is part of a graphical userinterface for the client process 36 is shown. The web page 50 allows theuser to construct a query which can be executed by the server process 16to produce flight plan options for the user.

The web page 50 includes a query table 52 which is a tab table 54 herecomprised of three tabbed regions 54 a-54 c. The first tab is labeledone-way, the second tab round trip 54 b and the third tab multi-segment54 c. The multi-segment tab is shown and is substantially the same asthe other tabs except that the multi-segment tab allows the user toenter data for multiple segments of a flight by allowing the user toconstruct a new query segment region. For example, as shown in FIG. 2,the table includes a region 56 a for entering flight information for afirst segment of a flight. The information includes an origin to adestination and information concerning dates and time of travel. Thequery also allows the user to specify some potential cost saving featureby allowing the user to cause the server look for other airports within50 miles of a designated airport and include such other airports inanswers for the segment. It also allows a user to specify a travelwindow. The table 54 also includes a second segment 56 b having regionsfor entering similar information and includes controls 62 a and 62 b foreither removing a segment from the query or adding a segment to thequery, thus allowing a user to provide a complex arrangement of segmentscorresponding to multi-segmented flights.

The web page 50 also allows for entry of passenger information such asthe number of adults, seniors, children and infants which may beimportant in determining the fare price for a ticket. The web page 50also allows a user to have the server process check seat availability ondesignated flights. With the check availability box activated, theserver process 16 will return travel options for which there is seatavailability.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a web page 70 that depicts results from theserver process 16 executing a query entered via the query page (FIG. 2)is shown. The web page 70, includes a table 72 that summarizes traveloptions. The travel option summary table 72 is a tab table comprised ofa tab 74 a that groups summary information by airlines, a tab 74 b thatgroups summarized information by flight times and a tab 74 c thatsummarizes travel information by airports.

As shown in FIG. 3, with the airline tab 74 a selected, the summaryinformation in the table is arranged in rows and columns with here eachof the airlines arranged in columns of the table as links and each ofthe rows of the table 74 arranging specified travel options such asnonstop flights or one-stop flights, as links. Interior cells within thetable 74 are links which correspond to prices for each of the airlineswith respect to each of the travel options. The table displays a set ofair travel options according to specified criteria, e.g., the airlinesused in one or more of the travel options (displayed from left to rightat the top of the table), and the number of stops or connections in theset of travel options. Here, the travel options represented by a giventable cell are those options which use the airline in the same column asthat cell, and that have the same number of stops as the “number ofstops” header in the same row as that cell. A third criteria, price(i.e. price of an airline ticket), is displayed in each cell of thetable; this price is the minimum price for any of the travel optionsthat are represented by a given cell. Selecting a cell (by clicking on aURL in this case) displays, in the lower pane, a listing of the traveloptions for that particular cell. Each travel option contains a‘details’ URL link in the row of information devoted to that traveloption; clicking on that link take the traveller to yet a third level ofinformation, a detailed description of that travel option as shown inFIGS. 4 and 5. A general procedure to construct the graphical userinterface is given below:

-   1) Obtain list of query-specific travel options.-   2) For each criteria in travel options:    -   Enumerate bins for the criteria        -   For each travel option T:            -   Place travel option T into some bin-   3) Given the bins computed in (2), compute intersections of bins to    determine what bins go in what cells of the summary table-   4) Generate and display summary table given information from    procedure (3).

If the travel system operates on a pricing graph, the links arehyperlinks to a enumeration algorithm such as described in the copendingapplication which can sort through a pricing graph, as described in theabove application, and return a set of travel options which correspondto the intersection of here the airline represented in the column andthe travel option represented in the selected row. Otherwise the linksactivate routines to sort through a list of travel options.

Thus, for example, selecting Delta Airlines and non-stop flightscorresponding to cell 75 a which has value of $378 will bring up allnon-stop options on Delta Airlines, e.g., no stops in any segment anddepict the top 30 of those results in the results frame 76. Thus, thelinks in the table 72 are used to control the display of travel optionsin the results frame 76. The results frame 76 includes a plurality ofresults, here the top 30 results are typically shown, arranged in atable with a hyperlink denoted as “details” which, when activated,brings up details of the travel option such as shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 6also has a second link which, when activated, brings up booking detailsas shown in FIG. 7. FIGS. 6 and 7 in addition to showing details of thetravel option also shows warnings 80 and planning suggestions 82.

Returning to FIG. 3, the table 74 allows the display of summaryinformation in different manners depending on which tab is selected.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the flight time tab 74 b is selected, the table74 is arranged to show departure times between the origin and thedestination over ranges of times for the potential days of travel in theoutbound portion of the trip in rows of the table, as well as departuretime for the return portion of the trip in columns of the table 74 overtime ranges in the potential return days. Thus, selecting one of theouter peripheral cells of the table will bring up all flight options ona designated day in the designated time area; whereas selecting aninterior one of the cells will produce the intersection of options for atime segment on the selected outbound date and the time segment of theselected return date. The table 72 also depicts the starting or lowestfares for each one of the different time segments allowing a user todecide the most appropriate time to travel giving consideration such ascost and convenience.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the airport tab 74 c is selected, the summarytable has columns corresponding to destination airports and rowscorresponding to origin airports.

The summary table 74 segments or compartmentalizes travel options intobins, according to criteria that the user might use to select a specifictravel option. Each dimension of the table has a travel criteriaassociated with it (for example, a two-dimensional table would have acriterion along the horizontal rows of the table, and a criterion alongthe vertical columns of the table). In addition, another, differentcriteria is represented in the cells of the table. The process forproducing an summary table, given a set of travel options and a set ofcriteria, is given below. For example, other criteria could be usedwithin the interior cells or at the edges of the table.

The graphical user interface is populated by obtaining a list ofquery-specific travel options. For each criteria the process willenumerate bins for this criteria, and for each travel option T, theprocess places the travel option T into some bin. Given the binscomputed the process computes intersections of bins to determine whatbins go in what cells of the summary table. The process generates anddisplays the summary table with the determined information.

OTHER EMBODIMENTS

It is to be understood that while the invention has been described inconjunction with the detailed description thereof, the foregoingdescription is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of theinvention, which is defined by the scope of the appended claims. Otheraspects, advantages, and modifications are within the scope of thefollowing claims.

1. A display device rendering a graphical user interface the graphicaluser interface comprises: a tabular region that displays a summary ofitems according to a value that the items have in common, the tabularregion comprises a plurality of cells at least some of which include alink that act as a controls; that displays selected ones of the itemsresulting from filtering a set of items in accordance with a controlactuated in the tabular region.
 2. The display of claim 1 whereininterior cells that intersect at least one column and at least one rowdisplaying a value that summarizes items that, according to thecriterion in a respective one of the columns and the criterion in arespective one of the rows.
 3. The display of claim 1 wherein thecontrols in the tabular region are arranged in a column and where uponactuation of one of the controls in the column causes items to bedisplayed as a grouping of items in accordance with the criterioncorresponding to the control.
 4. The display of claim 1 wherein thecontrols in the tabular region are arranged in rows and columns andwherein, upon actuation of one of the controls in a peripheral one ofthe rows or columns, causes items to be displayed as a grouping of itemsin accordance with the criterion corresponding to the selectedperipheral one of the rows or columns.
 5. The display of claim 1 whereinthe controls in the tabular region are arranged in rows and columns andwherein, upon actuation of one of the controls that is an interior oneof the cells in the rows and columns, causes items to be displayed as agrouping of items in accordance with a intersection of a pair ofcriteria corresponding to the intersection of the selected row andcolumn.
 6. The display of claim 1 wherein the controls are links toalgorithms that filter the set of items according to the selectedcriteria.
 7. The display of claim 1 wherein the interface is implementedas a web page in a web browser and the controls are hyperlinks toalgorithms.
 8. The display of claim 1 wherein the tabular region havingthe controls is a tabbed table comprising a plurality of tabs, with eachtab corresponding to a different criterion of the items.
 9. The displayof claim 1 wherein the graphical user interface is represented in a webpage and results are displayed in the web page. 10-17. (canceled)
 18. Agraphical user interface rendered on a display device, the graphicaluser interface summarizing travel options and comprises: a tabularregion having a plurality of cells that are arranged in plural columnsand plural rows with the cells displaying a summary of a criterion of aset of travel options, and with the cells being controls that whenselected, provide a subset of the travel options that correspond to therespective criterion or criteria of the selected cell.
 19. The graphicaluser interface of claim 18 further comprising: a second region thatdisplays data for each of the travel options in the subset of traveloptions.
 20. The graphical user interface of claim 18 wherein interiorcells that intersect at least one column and at least one row have avalue that summarizes travel options that meet a pair of criteriaaccording to the criterion in a respective one of the columns and thecriterion in a respective one of the rows.
 21. The graphical userinterface of claim 18 wherein the controls are hyperlinks
 22. Thegraphical user interface of claim 18 wherein actuation of one of thecontrols in one of the rows or columns on the periphery of the tabularregions causes results to be displayed as a grouping of travel optionsin accordance with a summary of a criterion corresponding to theselected peripheral one of the rows or columns.
 23. The graphical userinterface of claim 18 wherein upon actuation of one of the controls thatis an interior one of the cells in the rows and columns, causes theresults to be displayed as a grouping of travel options in accordancewith criteria corresponding to the intersection of a corresponding rowand a corresponding column.
 24. The graphical user interface of claim 18wherein the controls are links to routines that invoke an appropriateenumeration algorithm.
 25. The graphical user interface of claim 18wherein the tabular region is a tabbed table comprising at least one ofan airline tab, an airport tab and a flight time tab.
 26. The graphicaluser interface of claim 18 wherein the graphical user interface isrepresented in a first web page and a results region displaysitineraries and includes links that invoke a second web page to displaydetails of the itineraries.
 27. A computer program product residing on acomputer readable medium for rendering a graphical user interface for atravel planning, the computer program product comprises instructions forcausing a computer to: generate a tabular region comprised of aplurality of cells arranged in plural rows and plural columns, with theplural rows representing a first criterion of the travel options and theplural rows corresponding to a second, different criterion of the traveloptions; and populate the cells of the table with links to routines thatretrieve travel options according to the criterion of the plural rowsand the criterion of the plural columns.
 28. The computer programproduct of claim 27 wherein the controls in the tabular region arearranged in a column, and where upon actuation of one of the controls inthe column, causes results to be displayed as a grouping of traveloptions according to a criterion of the set of travel options, with thecriteria corresponding to the actuated control.
 29. The computer programproduct of claim 27, further comprising instructions to: cause theresults to be displayed in the graphical user interface upon actuationof one of the controls in a peripheral one of the rows or columns, as agrouping of travel options in accordance with the criterioncorresponding to the selected peripheral one of the rows or columns. 30.The computer program product of claim 27, further comprisinginstructions to: cause the results to be displayed as a grouping oftravel options, upon actuation of one of the controls that is aninterior one of the cells in the rows and columns, in accordance withcriteria corresponding to a intersection of a corresponding row and acorresponding column.
 31. The computer program product of claim 27,further comprising instructions to: execute an appropriate algorithmupon actuation of the controls to produce the results.
 32. The computerprogram product of claim 27 wherein the tabular region is a tabbed tablecomprising at least one of an airline tab, an airport tab and a flighttime tab.
 33. The computer program product of claim 32 wherein thetabbed table has an airline tab, and the computer program productfurther comprises instructions to: render on a display the tabbed tablewith columns corresponding to airlines and rows corresponding to numberof stops. .
 34. The computer program product of claim 32 wherein thetabbed table has a flight times tab, and the computer program productfurther comprises instructions to: render on a display the tabbed tablewith rows corresponding to a departure times for a first one of a pairof slices of a trip and with the columns corresponding to departuretimes for the second one of the pair of slices of the trip.
 35. Thecomputer program product of claim 34 wherein the departure times are arange of departure times:
 36. The computer program product of claim 32wherein the tabbed table has an airports tab, and the computer programproduct further comprises instructions to: render on a display thetabbed table with rows corresponding to one or more potential originairports for a trip and with the columns corresponding to one or morepotential destination airports of the trip.
 37. A computer system,comprising: a computer; a computer readable medium storing a computerprogram product for rendering a graphical user interface, the computerprogram product comprises instructions for causing a computer to:generate a tabular region comprised of a plurality of cells arranged inplural rows and plural columns, with the plural rows representing afirst criterion of items and the plural rows corresponding to a second,different criterion of the items; and populate the cells of the tablewith links to routines that retrieve items according to the criterion ofthe plural rows and the criterion of the plural columns; and a displaydevice coupled to the computer system for rendering the graphical userinterface.
 38. The computer system of claim 37 wherein the computerprogram product renders the graphical user interface with interior cellsthat intersect at least one column and at least one row displaying avalue that summarizes items that meet a pair of criteria of the items,according to the criterion in a respective one of the columns and thecriterion in a respective one of the rows.
 39. The computer system ofclaim 37 wherein the computer program product renders the graphical userinterface with the controls in the tabular region arranged in a column,and where upon actuation of one of the controls in the column causesitems to be displayed as a grouping of items in accordance with thecriterion corresponding to the control.
 40. The computer system of claim37 wherein the computer program product renders the graphical userinterface with the controls in the tabular region arranged in rows andcolumns, and upon actuation of one of the controls in a peripheral oneof the rows or columns, causes items to be displayed as a grouping ofitems in accordance with the criterion corresponding to the selectedperipheral one of the rows or columns.
 41. The computer system of claim37 wherein the computer program product renders the graphical userinterface with the controls in the tabular region arranged in rows andcolumns, and upon actuation of one of the controls that is an interiorone of the cells in the rows and columns, causes items to be displayedas a grouping of items in accordance with a intersection of a pair ofcriteria corresponding to the intersection of the selected row andcolumn.
 42. The computer system of claim 37 wherein the computer programproduct renders the graphical user interface with the controls that arelinks to algorithms that filter the set of items according to theselected criteria.
 43. The computer system of claim 37 wherein thecomputer program product renders the graphical user interface as a webpage in a web browser and the controls are hyperlinks to algorithms. 44.The computer system of claim 37 wherein the computer program productrenders the tabular region having the controls as a tabbed tablecomprising a plurality of tabs, with each tab corresponding to adifferent criterion of the items.
 45. A computer system, comprising: acomputer; a computer readable medium storing a computer program productfor rendering a graphical user interface, the computer program productcomprises instructions for causing a computer to: generate a tabularregion comprised of a plurality of cells arranged in plural rows andplural columns, with the plural rows representing a first criterion of aset of travel options, and the plural rows corresponding to a second,different criterion of the set of travel options; and populate the cellsof the table with links to routines that retrieve travel options fromthe set of travel options according to the criterion of the plural rowsand the criterion of the plural columns; and a display device coupled tothe computer system for rendering the graphical user interface.
 46. Thecomputer system of claim 45 wherein the computer program product rendersthe graphical user interface with interior cells that intersect at leastone column and at least one row displaying a value that summarizes thetravel options according to the criterion in a respective one of thecolumns and the criterion in a respective one of the rows.
 47. Thecomputer system of claim 45 wherein the computer program product rendersthe graphical user interface with the controls in the tabular regionarranged in a column, and where upon actuation of one of the controls inthe column causes items to be displayed as a grouping of travel optionsin accordance with the criterion corresponding to the control.
 48. Thecomputer system of claim 45 wherein the computer program product rendersthe graphical user interface with the controls in the tabular regionarranged in rows and columns, and upon actuation of one of the controlsin a peripheral one of the rows or columns, causes travel options to bedisplayed as a grouping of travel options in accordance with thecriterion corresponding to the selected peripheral one of the rows orcolumns.
 49. The computer system of claim 45 wherein the computerprogram product renders the graphical user interface with the controlsin the tabular region arranged in rows and columns, and upon actuationof one of the controls that is an interior one of the cells in the rowsand columns, causes travel options to be displayed as a grouping oftravel options in accordance with a intersection of a pair of criteriacorresponding to the intersection of the selected row and column. 50.The computer system of claim 45 wherein the computer program productrenders the graphical user interface with the controls that are links toalgorithms that filter the set of items according to the selectedcriteria.
 51. The computer system of claim 45 wherein the computerprogram product renders the graphical user interface as a web page in aweb browser and the controls are hyperlinks to algorithms.
 52. Thecomputer system of claim 45 wherein the computer program product rendersthe tabular region having the controls as a tabbed table comprising aplurality of tabs, with each tab corresponding to a different criterionof the items.
 53. The computer system of claim 52 wherein the tabbedtable has an airline tab and the computer program product furthercomprises instructions to: render on a display the tabbed table withcolumns corresponding to airlines and rows corresponding to number ofstops.
 54. The computer system of claim 45 wherein the tabbed table hasa flight times tab and the computer program product further comprisesinstructions to: render on a display the tabbed table with rowscorresponding to a departure times for a first one of a pair of slicesof a trip and with the columns corresponding to departure times for thesecond one of the pair of slices of the trip.
 55. The computer system ofclaim 54 wherein the departure times are a range of departure times: 56.The computer system of claim 52 wherein the tabbed table has an airportstab and the computer program product further comprises instructions to:render on a display the tabbed table with rows corresponding to one ormore potential origin airports for a trip and with the columnscorresponding to one or more potential destination airports of the trip.